


Don't Delete The Kisses

by nuttinonice



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Rock Band, Bad Boys, Coming Out, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Fluff, Light Angst, M/M, SHEITH - Freeform, Sheith Rock Zine, band au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-07
Updated: 2020-12-07
Packaged: 2021-03-10 01:14:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,252
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27945851
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nuttinonice/pseuds/nuttinonice
Summary: A surprise kiss on stage has fans of a legendary rock band in a tailspin. Did Keith just out himself to the whole world?
Relationships: Keith/Shiro (Voltron)
Comments: 5
Kudos: 80
Collections: Bad Boys





	Don't Delete The Kisses

**Author's Note:**

> This was one of my fav zines I've ever been in, hope you guys enjoy the fic I created for it!

“Shiro! Rumors have surrounded you and Keith for years now. Was last night a genuine moment, or a statement? Maybe a protest of some kind?”

Keith shifts uncomfortably in his seat, trying to hide from the camera flashes behind dark tinted sunglasses as he looks over at Shiro. He feels terribly guilty, relying on him for this, making Shiro field the questions about what had happened last night, but he can’t bring himself to speak. He’s sick to his stomach. 

“This press conference is about the album,” Shiro says, appearing cool and collected as usual. “We’d be happy to answer any questions about the music.”

“But fans are dying to know, what’s the story behind the kiss you two shared last night? At a televised concert no less.”

“We don’t discuss our personal lives.”

Keith cringes. It’s a fair answer, but murmurs erupt immediately. Whoops.

“So it is a part of your personal lives?” A young reporter pipes up and Keith prays the platform they’re seated on will open up and swallow him whole. 

“Hey if we want to talk personal lives, how about my latest solo project?” Lance winks in an attempt to deflect. He’s trying to help, but Keith just slumps further in his seat. 

“No one cares about your experimental jazz, Lance,” Pidge chimes in. “But hey, this album has me and Hunk’s first track as lyricists and Allura’s first studio vocals, any questions about that?” She scans the room. “Anything?”

Keith shuts his eyes and bites the inside of his cheek as the conference carries on. Each time a question is directed at him, Shiro takes it for him, until finally Coran is able to bring the conference to a close and usher them all away, back through the lobby of the hotel hosting the conference and out to the back parking lot where the bus is parked. 

“Guys, uh… Can we have a minute?” Shiro winces as they approach the tour bus, his hand coming up to rest on the small of Keith’s back. 

“Oh,” Allura blinks. “Yes of course.” She turns to the others and motions for them to head out. “Let’s go find some lunch everyone.”

“Thank you,” Shiro nods as they all walk away together, turning quickly to open up the tour bus and usher Keith inside. “Baby? You okay?”

“Fine,” Keith croaks, plopping down on the ratty sofa of the tiny den area with a sniffle. It smells like Lance’s overpowering cologne and old Dorito dust, but it’s what he’s got for now. He’ll crawl away to hide in his bunk soon enough. 

“Keith, I’m so sorry we’re in this mess.”

“Not your fault,” Keith shrugs, finally pushing his sunglasses up onto his head and wiping his eyes. “I’m the one who kissed you last night and completely fucked our whole album release.”

Shiro’s face falls. “Don’t say that. You didn’t fuck anything up.” He shrugs his leather jacket off and drapes it over Keith’s shoulders before taking a seat next to him on the couch, the old springs creaking at the additional weight. 

“I just…” Keith huffs. “We wrote that song together. It’s about us and you were singing all close to me and I forgot where we were and I just… I forgot who we are.” He scootches closer and leans his head on Shiro’s shoulder. “I feel so stupid. We’ve been prepping for months to tell my mom about us and maybe think about coming out in public and I blew it in a single second on stage.”

“It’s gonna be okay, Keith. We couldn’t hide forever.”

Keith just sighs and digs his phone out of his back pocket, stomach roiling as he glances at his lock screen. Five missed calls from Mom. “This isn’t how I wanted her to find out. I have no idea what she thinks, I mean, she could hate me, you know? I-I don’t have a clue.”

“Well… I mean, do you want to go see her? We have a week until the tour kicks off. Would you feel better going to talk it out in person?”

“I don’t know,” Keith grimaces. “I mean she’s a huge label executive. She’s half the reason we ever made it this far and having something controversial like a gay son could hurt business.”

“I don’t think she’ll see it that way,” Shiro says with a soft smile and an even softer kiss to Keith’s forehead. “If she loves you half as much as I do, she won’t even care. Let’s go see her, alright? What’s one little flight from Vegas to LA? I’ll tell Coran.”

“You sure?”

“If it’s what you want.”

“I guess so,” Keith sighs before tossing his phone away, not wanting to see the slew of news alerts about their press conference. He’d made the mistake of glancing at his timeline earlier to find a gazillion fan theories speculating if him and Shiro are in a relationship, which yeah, they have been for over a year, but there’s an equal amount of posts asking if Keith’s love might be one-sided. Is Keith lusting after the straight frontman? Will heartbreak tear apart the band at the top of the rock charts? God. He might never open Twitter again. 

Keith stays curled up on the couch as Shiro walks into the bunks to call Coran. He hears Shiro apologizing to him for the logistical issues this is going to cause, but once again, he’s just thankful that Shiro’s handling this for him. The thought of facing his mom and not even getting to come out on his own terms now makes his stomach roil. The speech he’s been prepping in his head for months is out the window. All because of one stupid impulse. 

He feels selfish. Shiro’s technically being outed too, but the spotlight’s more on Keith. He initiated the kiss after all. 

“Pack your bags, Love,” Shiro says as he emerges from the bunk area. “There’s a flight that leaves in a few hours. We can take our time getting over there, catch a cab.”

Keith’s stomach lurches, but he mutters an “okay,” and gets up to give Shiro a thank you kiss on the cheek. “Sorry I’m making this all about me.”

“You’re fine, Keith. I didn’t have family that I had to come out to, so I can’t imagine how you’re feeling. I’m okay with however you want to handle this.” Shiro presses a gentle kiss to the top of Keith’s head to punctuate his words, his arms coming up to wrap around Keith’s waist and hold him close in a tight hug. He smells like the shitty cologne that sponsored the event today and it almost makes Keith laugh a little. Instead, he manages a smile and another kiss to the side of Shiro’s neck. The anxiety isn’t going to go away until he gets the conversation with his mom over with, but Shiro helps. He always does. 

“I’m gonna go change,” Keith mumbles into Shiro’s shoulder. “Thanks for taking care of everything.”

“Any time, Keith. Let me know when you’re done and I’ll get my stuff out of the way.”

They take their time changing into some cozier clothes for the flight, baggy hoodies and corny sunglasses to avoid recognition before putting together a shared suitcase and catching a cab to the airport. Keith sends a brief apology text to the band, says he’ll be back soon and to make sure no one says anything about them leaving. He doesn’t want any more gossipy headlines. 

Shiro leads him through the airport when they arrive, presenting their tickets, sending their things through security. They’ve been to so many airports now that they all look relatively the same. Keith feels like he gets more lost every time, but Shiro seems to know the lay of the land. He gets him to the gate and Keith pouts when he realizes he can’t ask Shiro to put his arm around him as they wait for the plane. Or maybe he can? But the last thing he wants is some random passerby in the airport to recognize them and snap a picture of them cuddling. That’s the last thing he needs. 

When first class is called for boarding, Keith follows Shiro onto the plane and sinks right into a leather seat, allowing himself a little more freedom now that there are less people around and resting his head on Shiro’s shoulder. 

“You can sleep through if you want. I’ll wake you up.”

“Can’t sleep.” Keith shakes his head and snuggles in just a little closer, nuzzling his cheek against the soft fabric of Shiro’s hoodie. He has absolutely no idea what he’s going to say when they get to Vegas. He knows where his mom will be at the time of day they’ll be arriving. They’ll go straight to the label, go to see her in her office, and they’ll talk. But he doesn’t know how he’s going to have this conversation. 

“Here.” Shiro tugs a pair of earbuds out of his pocket, plugging them into his phone and offering one of the buds to Keith to put in his ear. 

Keith puts it in and gives a little smile as the plane starts to move down the runway, shutting his eyes as Shiro puts on their shared playlists. It’s a collection of both their favorite songs, some in common, some polar opposites, and all the songs that make them think about each other. The only rule is no sad or slow songs. It’s a cheesy playlist, but it’s one that puts them both in a good mood. 

“Everything’s gonna be fine,” Shiro says in a soft voice as the plane starts to move down the runway. “She’s gonna love you just as you are and even if she doesn’t react the way we want her to, you always have me, okay? Always.”

“You always gotta be such a super boyfriend?” Keith teases as he rests a hand on Shiro’s thigh and tries not to tense as the plane moves towards take off. 

Shiro senses the tension anyways and takes Keith’s hand, running his thumb over his knuckles and squeezing when the plane takes off. He lets Keith squeeze back hard as he needs to until the plane levels out in the sky and Keith relaxes into his touch again. “Yes,” Shiro says, to answer Keith’s previous question. “I absolutely do.”

“Shut up,” Keith snorts a little as he gives Shiro’s hand one more squeeze, glad that he didn’t let go once the plane finished taking off. “Skip this song, it’s corny.”

“You put this on here, Keith.”

“And I can take it right back out.”

It’s a short flight into Nevada. Keith’s nerves were under control for the duration of the flight thanks to Shiro, but he feels his heart pound when they touch down. He’s not ready for this, but when his phone regains signal and he’s the enormous amount of unread notifications, he knows he doesn’t have a choice. 

They grab their bags from the overhead and make their way out, Keith chewing on his lower lip the whole way out of the airport. When Shiro hails a cab, his stomach flips, and as they drive into the city, he feels faint. Shiro has a hand on his knee, but nothing short of a coma could calm his nerves at this point. 

The label isn’t far either. An extravagant building in the city, dozens of floors, and his mom’s office is at the top.

Shiro thanks and pays the driver, giving Keith’s knee a squeeze before it’s time for them to step out of the cab. He grabs their suitcase from the trunk and gives Keith a sympathetic look. “Are you ready?”

“Nope.” Keith shakes his head as tilts his head back to see the height of the building. It takes two elevators just to get to his mom. She’s the owner of an empire and he feels like he’s about to tarnish it.

“It’ll be okay,” Shiro says, stepping forward and taking Keith’s hand. 

“W-What are you…” Keith glances down at their hands and blushes before looking around. “There’s people, Kashi.”

“Then let’s go inside.” Shiro cocks his head towards the golden double doors. Vegas architecture really gives Keith a headache. “Come on. You’ve got this.”

“I really don’t,” Keith pouts, but he moves forward anyways, grateful once again for Shiro’s lead as they step into the building. There’s usually a certain amount of clearance involved to get into the building, but once the receptionist sees them, she waves them right over. 

“Hey you two!” beams a bright-eyed girl with purple hair. Keith recognizes her as the social media intern for one of the other bands at the label too. “Are you here for Krolia? She just finished a meeting, so I can buzz you right up if you hurry.”

Keith opens his mouth to answer, but the words get stuck. His hands are shaking. 

“You can buzz us up,” Shiro chimes in, his fingers still intertwined with Keith’s. He’s sweating in Shiro’s grip now. 

“Got it. Go ahead and take the elevator up, I’ll let her know who’s coming,” she says with a wink before Shiro pulls Keith away towards the elevator. 

“Take a deep breath,” he whispers to Keith after pushing the button. “She loves you. You’re her son and it’s gonna be okay. You’ll feel so much better when this is over.”

Keith swallows the lump in his throat and nods his head. Jesus Christ, he’s already crying. He thinks his voice will wobble if he speaks. 

When the elevator doors open, also gold of course, they step inside and hit the button for the highest floor this one will take them to. 

“Come here, Baby,” Shiro cooes, pulling Keith into a hug as the elevator rises and squeezes. “Everything’s gonna be alright. You played a guitar solo while doing a back bend in front of millions of people, you can handle this, alright? I know you. You’ve got this.”

“I also kissed you in front of millions of people,” Keith sniffs. “But thanks.” 

They get off when the elevator opens and enter the second one that will take them to the top floor. Keith feels like his heart pounds with each floor they rise and when the doors slide open, he freezes. “Shiro, I really don’t think-”

“Keith.”

Keith recognizes the tone as Shiro’s stern voice. It usually only comes out when they’re goofing around too much in practice. “I-I know.”

“I’m right here for you.”

Keith forces a deep breath in and nods his head, taking the lead this time as he lets go of Shiro’s hand steps out of the elevator, walking them up to his mother’s assistant, a young girl who sits at a desk outside her office. “Hey, uh, we’re here to see Krolia. The receptionist said she could see us?”

“Oh!” The assistant perks up, a slight blush on her cheeks. Shit. Keith highly suspects the whole label’s been buzzing about the kiss. “Yes, she said to send you right in.” Keith hopes to God that wasn’t exactly how Krolia had worded it. 

“Thank you,” Shiro says with a warm smile before his hand comes to the small of his back, a grounding touch as they approach the office double doors. 

Keith bites his lip when he reaches forward to open them, revealing his mom in a purple pantsuit, feet kicked up on the desk with a full view of the city in the window behind her. “Mom?”

“Keith!” she beams, bolting up from her desk and rushing over to yank him into a hug. “Kiddo, you didn’t take my calls, are you holding up okay? I saw the conference and everything, are you alright?” She pulls away and holds him by the shoulders. “Do not ignore my calls like that again. I don’t care how famous you get, I’m still your mother.”

“U-Um,” Keith blinks. “Y-Yeah? Sorry?”

“Hi Ms. Kogane,” Shiro smiles with a wave. “Don’t worry, he’s safe and sound.”

“You’re not pissed about the um… about the scandal and stuff?” Keith winces. 

“Honey no, not at all,” Krolia frowns at him. “I’m furious about how the media is treating you. I never wanted the choice to come out to be taken away from you and one public slip up shouldn’t warrant the press-”

“Wait, you knew?” Keith feels tears well up in his eyes, a mixture of relief and shock at his utter cluelessness. 

“Keith, I’m your mom,” she sighs. “I knew. I know. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you I knew, but I wanted to give you the chance to tell me when you wanted to and then all this.” She flutters her hands around. “Happened.” 

“Yeah.” Keith lets out a wet laugh. “It uh… it did.”

Krolia tilts her head and glances from Keith to Shiro. “How long?”

“Little over a year?” Shiro scratches the back of his head. “Yeah, um, little bit after the first album.”

“Hm. Thought it’d been going on even longer.”

“Mom.”

“Sorry, sorry.” She waves her hands again. “But anyways, yes, I know, and I’d love you no matter what. You don’t have to worry about me on this front.”

“So…” Keith shifts from foot to foot and blinks his eyes to drive back the tears that had welled up. “What do I do now?”

“Whatever you want to do, Keith,” Krolia says, backing up to sit on top of her desk. “This is you, your life, your partner. You be as open or as private as you want to be.”

“It might affect the label.”

“Let it,” Krolia says, her eyes soft and understanding as she looks at him. “The label will be fine. If anything you guys might even attract a whole new group of fans after this, but what matters is you. This is your life.”

Keith feels his face turn pink as he glances up at Shiro. “So… should we… post something? I-I don’t want to do an interview or anything, but I want people to stop playing the guessing game on my Twitter.”

“I think I have the perfect thing,” Shiro says as he pulls his phone out, doing a quick google search to grab a high-res picture of the infamous on-stage kiss from the night before and dropping it into a tweet. “You pick the caption.”

“A twitter coming out party.” Keith rolls his eyes, but he’s smiling as Shiro puts an arm around his shoulders and Keith types out the message. He makes a few edits, spends a moment selecting the right emoji, and feels a weight lift when he presses post. 

Krolia whips out her own phone to instantly retweet it with the caption the same as what she says out loud. “I’m proud of you, Kiddo.”

“Me too,” Shiro says, gentle as ever as he plants a firm kiss on Keith’s lips, soft and sweet, just PG-13 enough to do in front of his mother. “Krolia, I think we’re gonna go find a hotel for the night.”

“Oh I’m sure you will,” she chuckles. “Come see me for breakfast in the morning before you head out. Keith, call me if you need anything.”

“I think I’m good, mom,” Keith breathes as he takes Shiro’s hand again and looks down at his phone to read the caption again. He loves it. 

Secrets out. Guess you all get an inside look of our love songs now.

**Author's Note:**

> Be sure to say hi on Twitter @nuttinonice <3


End file.
